Apple iPad Review

If you’re still searching the net for iPad reviews you’re probably still wondering whether or not you should spend between £400 and £700, or more I may add, on an iPad.

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The Wi-Fi only iPad starts at around £429 for the 16GB version, £499 for the 32GB and £599 for the 64GB. You can add another £100 or so for the 3G model.

You may be asking at these price tags what the big fuss is about. Well the fuss, that has caused Apple supply problems due to an unprecedented UK demand. Quite simply, the iPad revolutionizes the concept of a tablet computer, just how the iPod revolutionised the concept of a portable music player. Unlike most tablet machines that left people frustrated with a stylus-driven handwriting recognition system and an operating system essentially built for a desktop PC the iPad implements the best tablet OS to date. The use of the iPhone OS and it’s use of a virtual keyboard, which as many will find takes getting use to but overall is an easy to use functionality, multi-touch gestures and rotation sensitivity turns the iPad into the best and most usable tablet machine than any Windows-based tablet PC.

Apple iPad: Is it really worth it?

Design

To comment on its design is to comment upon a blank canvas there simply is nothing there. The bulk of its surface is taken up by a 9.7inch, 1024x768, multi-touch LED-backlit display surrounded by the common glossy black bezel that is seen on the iPhone and iTouch. There is only Apple’s iconic ‘Home’ button, again featured on Apple’s iPhone and iTouch, to interact with and the back of the device like the other devices mentioned has the dutifully simple piece of curved aluminum. In short we could simply say the iPad is a blown up version of the iPhone with a bigger screen, better resolution and easier to use due to its size. However, there is a price to pay for it being so big and that is its weight. The iPad weighs in at 1.5 pounds, but is still comfortable to hang onto. I’m sure we can cope with these considering it is only 0.5”inches thick and packs noticeably speedy computing power.

Similarly to the iPhone the iPad has a volume button on the upper right hand side, however, also comes with a screen position lock to force the device to remain in landscape mode or portrait mode, a setting many wished was on the iPhone. As usual it comes with a power/sleep button, a headphone jack mysteriously placed at the top of the iPad ensuring that your headphones are draped across the screen, and Apple’s famous 30-pin dock connector along with a single thin speaker. As Apple intended anyone who previously owned or used an Apple device such as the iTouch and the iPhone you’ll find the iPad a doodle to use.

Hardware

All iPad versions pack Apple’s custom PA Semi-design 1GHz A4 “system on a chip” CPU, a single Cortex A8 core coupled with a PowerVR SGX GPU. Unfortunately, the RAM has not been revealed but we suspect it is at least 512MB we’ll know once we put the pad under the knife. If the above is mere mumbo-jumbo and want to know how the iPad performs in English you will be pleased to know it performs very, very well. From opening and rescaling web-pages, to play some of the most graphically intensive games including some of your re-scaled iPhone favorites, to allowing for fast scrolling, re-scaling and rotating your HD pictures within Apple’s impressive photo app without hesitation.

The speaker does a rather impressive job outputting clean, well balanced sound given its size but it won’t be the centre of attention at your party that’s for sure. The 30-pin connector is standard issue of most Apple products but its lack of an SD card reader or even a USB port is a huge blow to serious tablet users.

One piece of hardware that is a major blow to the iPad is its lack of a webcam. The inability to carry out a Skype video conversation, as holding this is in your hands whilst talking to a friend or family member is surely a match made in heaven.

By packing the iPad with all these functions (or lack of functions) into a single chip, the iPad becomes an extremely power-efficient device allowing it’s built-in non-replaceable, as common of most iProducts, Lithium-polymer battery to run much longer than the average mobile computer. For the Wi-Fi only iPads Apple suggest a total use time for web surfing, web videos and listening to music to be about 10 hours but don’t forget you cannot do any of this simultaneously. Apple need to be given credit where it’s due especially how the iPhone has been plagued with fleeting battery cycles.

Display

The iPad’s screen displays colours with vibrancy and saturation. Whilst blacks feel true and deep the iPad can be adjusted to an almost blinding brightness but this can obviously be lowered, especially useful for iBook readers. To say that the iPad’s screen is the most responsive screen and the best in its class would not be an overstatement.

The big screen is designed to make the best of multimedia content and the full-screen browsing is designed to make the best of multimedia content. However, this display can be dotted with little blue squares, particularly when searching the web, as the iPad’s lack of Flash support is a major issue.

The iPad’s inability to multi-task severely hampers its appeal especially as the iPhone OS has now incorporated it. For the extra cash you’re splashing out on such a device you would like to be apply to listen to you music whilst chatting to friends on an instant messaging service or be able to surf the web and take notes but it’s one or the other at the moment.

People may have their complaints of the 12mm of functionless screen that frames the actual viewing area but it looks a lot worse in photos then it does in real life. Don’t forget though that these 12mm help to keep finger prints, smudges and other unwanted marks off the actual viewing area.

Apple iPad: A Brilliant Display

Operating System

As we keep discovering the iPad is similar to the iPhone in numerous ways, especially the operating system. You have a certain number of pages depending on the number of applications, a dock of your favorite apps which has been cranked up to six rather than the iPhone’s four and a persistent status bar which displays the time, your Wi-Fi status and your battery life. Apple, surprisingly, haven’t taken advantage of the large amounts of desktop space and have not allowed for micro-apps or widgets on screen. The unused space looks quite silly and quite honestly could have been put to a lot better use.

Conclusion

Overall, the iPad, as previous mentioned, is simply an enlarged iTouch, as even the iPhone, with the release of the iPhone 4, has far surpassed the iPad. The iPad is simply a great device but not really the earth-shaking shift in technology that we were expecting. However, keep an eye out for the 2nd and 3rd generation iPad’s as hopefully Apple should up their game and pack the iPad with the punch that we were and still are expecting.

Apple iPad: To buy or not to buy? That is the question.